No Verizon on the iPad. Is There a Map For That?

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No Verizon on the iPad. Is There a Map For That?

One of the most interesting things that didn't happen when Apple announced its iPad on Wednesday is that AT&T didn't get the boot. It was widely believed that Apple was going to drop the carrier because of its poor service and go with Verizon instead. Instead, Apple reaffirmed its relationship with AT&T, and there was no Verizon announcement at all. I don't know the first thing about Apple's negotiations, and Apple may indeed announce some kind of deal with Verizon soon. But in retrospect, keeping AT&T makes perfect sense.

Why?

1) It remains unclear whether AT&T's sin was incompetence. They are a big, bad phone company, so it's easy to just assume the worst. But the iPhone has generated more traffic on AT&T's network than anyone, even Apple, expected; and AT&T, in addition to taking the blame publicly, has been laying out billions to fix the problem.

2) Verizon's network runs on CDMA technology, not GSM. That means it only works in the US. To sell the iPad in the US on Verizon's network and globally, Apple would have needed to equip US and international devices with different radios — or cram in two radios.

3) There is nothing like doing business with a partner that is back on its heels. Given how much bad press AT&T has gotten for its network failures, it's likely that it was prepared to do almost anything to keep from losing Apple. Thus, if you want an iPad that has 3G service — and you can buy them without — it's cheap ( $15 for 250 MB of data a month $30 for unlimited); you can buy them unlocked so they work on any GSM network carrier; you don't have to sign a contract with AT&T; and you can activate the device at home instead of a store.

Apple seems to have remembered one of the first rules of business: Don't get mad; get even.